Category: Salesmen

I get most frustrated by people who are in the sales/retail/services business. This is usually caused by them doing what they are told, but not having enough of a brain to think on their own. You should enjoy some of these stories.

New Printer: Epson C67

I bought a new printer today. This is my first printer that has come in a box since around 1998 or 1999. I did buy one new in 1996, then that one at the end of the decade. I have acquired a few here and there since then, but nothing new. The one bought at the end of the century is still in use at my parent’s house. I have been using a printer that they bought in 1997. The one I had did not support Linux and their’s did. So I switched printers with them and they were never the wiser. They ended up with a newer machine anyway, so it was a good deal for them.

Today I purchased an Epson Stylus C67. Epson C67 PrinterIt is sold in Latin America, not in the US. The price at Office Depot was $549 pesos. That is about $50 US Dollars. The cheapest I have seen that printer for online is $66 (USD). I feel like I got a good deal.

In the process of buying the printer the cashier asked me if I wanted to charge the printer on a 12 month interest free plan they were offering. Hmm, that would work out to less than $4.25 a month. What an idiotic program this is. It is an infection. I can see “12 months same as cash” on a $500 product, but $50? The disease of credit (which is wicked and why so many people are in financial trouble today) has infected México as badly as, or maybe worse than, the US. You can get credit to buy almost anything here. There is one store whose whole business model is selling stuff on credit.

Well, I certainly was not interested in buying a $50 printer on credit. If I cannot pay $50 for a printer, then I don’t need the printer. If it were a pressing issue and I had to do some printing, I could easily go to any one of the thousands of Internet cafés here and print my paper for a few cents. Then save my money for a few months and buy the thing with cash. That is what our grandparents used to do. They did not buy stuff if they did not have the money for it.

So, I told the cashier that I would not buy the printer on credit, but that I wanted to pay for it all at once. “And, furthermore,” I told her, “credit is an invention of the Devil” (in Spanish of course).

Then something interesting took place. She had to call a manager over. Because I was not buying with credit, the manager had to override the purchase. Huh? Why? Well, the “no interest for 12 months” is not entirely true. I found out that if you pay cash, then the printer only costs $494 pesos (about $45 US Dollars). There was nothing on the display saying that it cost less if you pay cash than if you do their credit. I saved $5 (USD), simply because I used cash and not credit. So how do they get by saying that there is not interest if you use their credit? I guess it is not interest if you charge the extra $5 up front.

Anyway, I am pleased with my purchase. This is the first time I have bought something other than food or clothing here in México where I feel like I have gotten a good deal. Normally we would pay much more for something like a printer than the equivelant in the US. The cheapest Epson printer I currently see at Office Depot in the US is $90. That is twice what I paid for my printer here. Never mind the fact that the one at the US Office Depot website has a scanner. It is still the cheapest you can buy from them.

This one works perfectly in Linux too. Or at least as much as I have tested so far.

Steak ‘n Shake cashier

Modified Steak 'n Shake logo.One time my wife and I were in Steak ‘n Shake in Orlando, Florida. We were with my younger brother and his wife. Being good brothers, I was not going to pay his bill, nor he mine. We asked the waiter to separate the bills, but he said he could not do that at the table. We had to order together and the cashier would separate the checks.

When we got to the cashier she said that she could not ring up our checks separately into the two couples. She could, however, ring us up as individuals and we could pay that way.

So, my wife told her what she ordered. The girl rang it up and we paid for that. Then I told her what was mine and paid. Then my brother gave his list of food and paid. Finally my sister-in-law did hers. The whole time we were laughing.

So she was able to ring up 4 sets of burger, fries and drink individually, but not in groups of 2 burgers, 2 fries and 2 drinks as a set. And they let her deal with their money?

That’s some expensive chocolate!

Monday last was our 13th wedding anniversary. I went to Liverpool to get something for the wife. The $120 shirts got me to thinking that maybe Liverpool was a bit out of my price range.

Then my son and I walked by the chocolate counter. A bit of chocolate can’t cost that much. Right? Hmm, let’s see the price here. $34.80 (Mexican Pesos). The nice lady at the counter told me that was per 100 grams. Cool. I will take 1 kilogram, thank you. 1/3 of a kilo of white chocolate and pecans, 1/3 of dark chocolate and pecans. And, finally, 1/3 milk chocolate with almonds.

She dished up the first 1/3 and my mouth was watering. My son and I would have plenty to snack on before we gave it to my wife and she would never feel cheated. While she worked on the next 2 sets my son and I were starting to drool on the counter. She got it all put together and told me that the final price would be something like $350 pesos. Quick conversion told me that was about $34 USD. What!?

That is when my head started spinning and next thing I knew my son was picking me up off the floor. I realized my mistake was thinking that the price was per kilogram. 100 grams does not equal 1 kilogram. It is 1/10th of a kilo. My great pile of chocolate for $3.50 (USD) turned out to be quite a bit more expensive.

I then told her I just wanted 300 grams. 100 of each kind.

The pile of chocolate turned out to be quite a bit smaller. Only 5 or 6 pieces per flavor. That cut down on our hopes of scoring a piece for ourselves without us looking too cheap.

The lady had pity on us for our saddened, whimpering faces. She gave us an extra piece in the jar. She also threw in a nice glass jar. She and 2 co-workers made up the jar all pretty like and put a bow on it. She also put in a “Rice Krispies Treat” type candy to give it filler. It made the chocolate look more abundant than it really was.

We were happy to get that present home before it melted.

BTW, I just threw in the part about me fainting because it makes a good story. My son at 8 years old can’t quite pick up my 190 lb. body.

I want my watch back!

I took my watch in to the repair shop on June 8 this year. It was for general cleaning prompted by the fact that I had them put a new battery in and it stopped working within a few days. They cleaned it and I got it back about a week later. A week after that it had some moisture in the crystal.

I took it back to them and they claimed that I had damaged the watch by dropping it or something. Some of the gears were bent. I may have dropped it. I cannot claim to be the most gentle person when it comes to watches. But, I have had this watch for 5 years or more and had never had any problems with it until they worked on it. I agreed to pay for any gears that needed to be replaced, but they would take care of the labor at no charge.

I went back a week later which is how long they said it would take. With the exception of the 2 weeks that I was out of town, I have been going back since the first of July each week to check on my watch. Each week I am assured that the part will come in and it will be ready the next week. It has not come in. I even went as far as to ask them to show me my watch just to make sure that it really did still exist. I got sufficient proof that my watch was still there. At least, all the individual parts that were shown to me looked like my watch.

Today I went back. The excuse now is that since everyone was on vacation in Mexico City, where the part is coming from, that delayed the shipping of the part. But “it will be here by the end of the week.” Do I believe them? It is getting very hard to.

Sadly, I really did drop and damage my other watch this last week. Do you think there is any chance I will be taking it to that repair shop?

I WANT MY WATCH BACK!

Was I being hit up?

I went out to eat today. Good for me. Had a great salad and soup. Read about 1/2 of a Hardy Boys book. But, since my family is away on a trip, I was alone. This is the first time I have been to eat in this restaurant in 2 years without having my family with me. We don’t go there often, maybe once a month or so. When I walked in the hostess acted surprised that I was by myself. She wanted to know where my wife and 2 children were, why they went away and why I did not go with them. All somewhat fair questions, but should I feel obligated to answer? We have no marital problems, but what if we did? Was she digging for juicy information?

I think I have figured it out though. She thinks I’m a hunk and she is trying to off my wife. Well, I got news for her, she is not in the same league as my wife. My wife has me for the rest of her life (or mine, whichever expires first).